Every social media platform has its positives for marketers. Facebook has the lion’s share of marketing clout, of course. Instagram is on the rise. Even Pinterest is still generating some interest, though it is a tough nut to crack. But for my money? The best lead generation comes from Twitter.
Most of this is due to one on one interactions with consumers and influencer marketing. Twitter is a personal space, where brands can get right to the heart of their customer base. What gets tricky is trying to generate traffic to outside websites with the platform.
Pathway, a web growth company focusing on customer retention and business analytics, has put a great comparison of the three marketing channels: Social media, email, and phone. They list three major cons of social media marketing which I can fully relate to:
- Low click-through
- Hard to personalize
- Poor click-through
With all the cons in mind, they still recommend using social media marketing for customer acquisition and retention, especially combined with other channels (i.e. to increase the number of touchpoints).
Besides, you cannot really ignore numbers like these or these:
Still, even large brands with seemingly infinite marketing budgets are struggling to get clicks and bring people to their site. Funny enough, smaller businesses can fare better on that front. Probably because their users are already seeking that special small business touch that you just can’t find from the big guys.
Referral traffic is possible, don’t worry. Here are seven ways for you to start getting it straight from your Twitter profile.
Keep Your Brand a Separate Entity
This doesn’t count for people who are their brands, obviously. So if everything you offer is under your name, such as mine is, you want to post from a personalized account. That is the face your audience is wanting to see because it is the face they recognize.
If you have a brand or business that is not directly fronted by you, it needs its own social media presence. I would recommend that people rarely post about their business on their personal account because it isn’t reaching the right people. Instead, a personal account can be authority building within an industry by engaging with that industry (with a reference to the business in the bio).
As for the brand Twitter, that is where all the direct brand interaction should go. That includes links.
Make Your Links Irresistible
People will retweet you all the time, but few will click-through on what you share. Why? Who knows. All that matters is you need to reduce the risk of click-less retweets by making the link itself irresistible to the person viewing it.
My personal favorite way to do this is by using Twitter cards. There is one big reason for this: stolen clicks. When you post an image to Twitter to get the attention of a follower, it doesn’t link out to your website. It enlarges the image. This lessens the chance of the viewer clicking through to the link posted in the description.
With a Twitter card, you get a thumbnail that looks fantastic and draws the eye. It previews the website beyond to set the expectation of the viewer. Best of all, it goes directly to the link without enlarging the image. No more stolen clicks!
Write a Bio That Adapts To Needs
Bios can be a real lost opportunity when it comes to attracting traffic. For one thing, many people will just write a general description of themselves or their brand, then link their website. Where is the pizzazz? How is it making people want to read that bio again and again?
SEMRush is an awesome example of how they use their Twitter bio for more. They hold a weekly Twitter chat and use the hashtag for it in the bio to encourage people to take part. I have also seen some smaller businesses posting the latest links to content or new products in their bios. Still, others announce events.
Ask For Twitter Testimonials
I have found that many people don’t trust testimonials on websites. I understand, given how many shadier companies will write fake ones and use stock images or generic names to claim they were said by someone else.
Twitter testimonials are different. They are linked to active accounts, done by obviously real people. They just mean more. Plus, they link back to your website or use your hashtags. I have taken to asking people in my CTA that, if they are happy with something, to Twitter review it with a quick tweet.
Know When to Tweet and Repeat
This is a big part of being successful on Twitter, in general. You need to know when your followers are going to be on and posting, so you can send out tweets with links that are more likely to catch their eye (and their click).
Tweriod has been around for ages and is still the best way to get that valuable timing demographic info. Using them, my results have really shot up and with little additional effort on my part.
You should also be tweeting more than once with your links. You won’t catch people all the time with a single tweet and feeds update constantly. I usually schedule about three to four times a day, with other content and interactions in between so it doesn’t become a spam tactic. Cyfe is a great way to schedule your social media updates far into the future and see analytics numbers for each:
Add Text For Cover Image CTA’s
CTA’s are important, but are you missing out on an easy one? Cover photos have become as much a part of Twitter as they have Facebook. You can make yours do more for you by adding text to your cover photo that issues a call to action.
For example, say you are releasing a new ebook for free to newsletter subscribers. You could do a cover photo that says “Check Out [New Book Title] For Free! (Link in bio)”. What do you think people are going to do? Visit the link and see what this new, free book is all about.
Don’t Focus On The Follower Count
I remember when the scandal first hit about people using services to buy bot accounts to increase their follower numbers. That should have been a wake-up call about how little that metric really means in the scheme of things.
You could argue that it helps your social reach and presence. But there is a much more important stat you should be watching and that is how people are engaging in your Twitter content. Are they clicking? Are they converting once they do? Are you one on one engaging with them? That should be your focus, not the follower numbers.
Have something to add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
